Nonsexual lickety-split

[George Thompson]

My freshman year in college, Boston U., 1959, I took Biology 101, along
with all the other freshmen.  The lectures, in a hall the size of
Fenway Park, were delivered by a middle-aged female professor.  In one
lecture she described the cell as being a large box.  Afterwards, two
of my roommates debated whether she chose that comparison in full
knowledge that the word "box" meant "cunt".  If I recall, they agreed
that she must have known.

I don't remember whether either of them ever subsequently got a letter
from Momma saying she had put a box of cookies in the mail.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.

----- Original Message -----
From: Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at YAHOO.COM>
Date: Thursday, September 8, 2005 12:53 pm
Subject: Re: Nonsexual lickety-split

> As an actual lexical item, sexual "lickety-split" is uncommon and,
> I'd wager, almost entirely jocular. But it is obvious that a great
> many people (particularly of the young male variety) find the word
> itself hilarious because it can be "interpreted" as sexual.
>
> Earlier I mentioned Beavis and Butthead types in this regard.  The
> "Beavis and Butthead" phenomenon has not been studied by
> linguists, as far as I know. Example:
>
> 1.   _Maiden Aunt_ (oh, all right, _*Spinster* Aunt_) :  And he
> was gone, lickety-split !
>
> _B or B_ : Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh.  She said :  "Lickety-
> split."
> The "B & B phenomenon" thus refers to the amused identification,
> aloud or silently, of unintended scatology in the words of others.
>
> Here are two more exx. :
>
> 2.  _Ph.D_ :  Cortes was far less interested in establishing
> Spanish dominion over Mexico than he was in acquiring gold and
> booty from the Aztecs.
>
> _Large Lecture Hall of Undergraduates_ [_think_ ] :   Huh huh huh
> huh huh huh huh huh. He said: "Booty."
>
> 3.  _Philosopher_ :  Politics makes strange bed fellows.
>
> _Foolosopher_ : Huh huh huh huh huh huh huh huh.  You said : "Bed
> Fellows."
>
> JL
>
>
>
> David Bowie <db.list at PMPKN.NET> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------
> ------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: David Bowie
> Subject: Nonsexual lickety-split
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------
>
> I haven't really been following the discussion of lickety-split
> and its
> apparent avoidance by the mayor of New Orleans, due possibly to its
> sexual meaning (which i hadn't previously been aware of at all),
> but i
> just saw a non-sexual use of the term by another politician, as quoted
> in the Washington _Post_:
>
> Part of the inquiry will be allegations of price gouging, usually
> a staple of the Democratic Party, but one the Republicans must
> take up "in lickety-split time," said Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.).
> "Our constituents demand it."
>
> From an article titled "GOP agenda in Congress may be at risk:
> Katrina's costs, high fuel prices working against more tax cuts",
> appearing on page A2 of the _Post_'s Sunday, 4 September edition,
> available online at
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
> dyn/content/article/2005/09/03/AR2005090301065_pf.html
> It makes me wonder exactly how widespread the sexual meaning is.
>
> --
> David Bowie http://pmpkn.net/lx
> Jeanne's Two Laws of Chocolate: If there is no chocolate in the
> house, there is too little; some must be purchased. If there is
> chocolate in the house, there is too much; it must be consumed.
>
>
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